January 14, 2011

His re-election bid in serious doubt, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele sought support from members of his party's central committee Thursday as he struggled to avert defeat after a free-spending, gaffe-filled two years.

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Weary of Steele's gaffes, missteps and high spending, many members of the cash-strapped central seemed eager to boot Steele from the job after only two years and make room for someone new. Steele's RNC raised almost $80 million ahead of November elections, spent all of it and then took out a $15 million loan.

Steele reportedly will stay in the race until the final round. But the election outcome is a foregone conclusion. With a $20 $21.3 million debt, "slum love" doesn't pay the bills.

Equally laughable was Steele taking credit for every Republican victory since 2009:

My record stands for itself. We won. I was asked to win elections...We won.

Whatever. I don't think Steele won any new supporters among the 168 members of the Committee who will decide his fate on Jan. 14.

At the same time, I don't think his challengers scored a knockout punch. They took jabs at Steele, but they mostly came across as workhorses who would “work like a dog” and focus on reducing the RNC's $20 million debt.

The actual vote for RNC Chairman will be made by the 168 members of the Committee, but the impact will be felt by all. Therefore, every activist should play a role in questioning the candidates and communicating with RNC members who cast votes...just like lobbying your Congressman and Senators.

As in 2009, the current chairman is fighting to hold on to his job. Then it was Mike Duncan. Now, it's Michael Steele, who won on the sixth ballot.

Although Steele takes credit for the Democrats' shellacking in the midterm elections, he may not make it to the second ballot. Politico reports a majority of Committee members oppose him.

According to the National Journal Whip Count, Priebus is leading the pack with 30 public endorsements, followed by Steele with 15. To win, a candidate must gain the support of 85 of the 168 Committee members. As of Jan. 1, 92 are undeclared.

We fired Pelosi so let’s increase our resources and strength to take back the Senate, elect new governors, and ultimately a principled Republican leader to serve as President of the United States. United, we can make a difference for America and its future.

Like a rooster who takes credit for the sunrise, Steele claims credit for Democrats’ shellacking in the midterm elections.

His engaging manner on TV was one of his attractions as a chairman two years ago. It quickly went sour. Steele doesn’t have the discipline of a party operative. Whether it was lashing out at Rush Limbaugh or calling Afghanistan “a war of Obama’s choosing,” his gaffes distracted from the work at hand. Meanwhile, the $20,000-apiece corporate speeches, the Regnery book, and the accompanying media plugs all gave Steele, fairly or not, the whiff of the political profiteer.

Likewise, his tactical choices seemed at times driven as much by personal exigencies as by party priorities. In September, with midterms kicking into high gear and every piece of data indicating that Republicans could make substantial incursions into key blue districts, where was Steele? Speechifying and fundraising in Guam — no doubt in part because the party committeemen of Guam and other U.S. territories in the Pacific and Caribbean broke heavily for Steele in 2008. A similar calculus could explain why Steele sent $20,000 from his state parties’ budget to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, which has no voting members of Congress, zero electoral votes, and a population roughly the size of Scranton’s.

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Steele’s poor performance as chairman has had one fortunate side effect — it has created a robust field of alternatives. It gives us no pleasure to say this, but none of them would be worse than Steele, and we believe any of them would be better. Someone else deserves a chance at the top of the RNC.

So tonight I come to my bosses with a record that only you can judge, based upon directions you made clear to me from the very beginning. Yes I have stumbled along the way, but have always accounted to you for such shortcomings. No excuses. No lies. No hidden agenda.

Going forward, I ask for your support and your vote for a second term. Our work is not done; and my commitment has not ended. I believe the worst thing we can do now is to look backwards. Who you elect as our next Chairman will speak volumes about our willingness to truly be the party of Lincoln. What we do as a party must reflect the realities of the political marketplace and the voters. Growth for our movement requires new allies. We can no longer settle in the safe harbor of our comfort zone, but must reach beyond ourselves for the next generation.

My style is a little bit different than most conventional party chairmen. My style is more grassroots oriented, I’m much more of a street guy. I love hanging out in boardrooms, but I prefer to be in the neighborhoods and communities.

Will Steele be the HNIC or kicked to the curb when the votes are counted next month?

December 02, 2010

The National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar heralds the GOP as the party of diversity:

The GOP success this year in electing minority leaders who can appeal to a wide cross-section of voters should serve as a wake-up call to Democrats, who are accustomed to carrying the mantle of diversity. If Democrats don’t address their own challenges recruiting minority candidates with widespread appeal, the rise of Obama could be more the exception than the rule.

There will be less diversity at the top when the Republican National Committee elects its new chairman in January.

I had planned to attend FreedomWorks’ tea-party-cum-candidate-forum to vet the candidates for the position of RNC chairman. Instead, I was stuck in Philadelphia so I viewed the live stream of the event.

Four of the six announced candidates showed up -- Michigan GOP national committeeman Saul Anuzis; former RNC political director Gentry Collins, former RNC co-chairwoman Ann Wagner and former RNC chairman Mike Duncan.

The candidates agreed that current chairman Michael Steele failed as a fundraiser and steward of the party’s finances. Collins said:

The party under his leadership failed to raise the major donor money it is going to require to defeat Barack Obama, defeat his policies and defeat his ideology and agenda in 2012.

Anuzis noted, “It takes two things to win an election: money and everything else.” And added:

We are in a situation where we need a different type of leader for a different type of challenge. We’re going to have to raise more money than we ever have before, and we have to put together a better ground operation than we have before.

Steele has yet to say whether he will seek a second term, but he was the clear loser.

The final nails in Steele’s coffin are reports of too many Cooks on the RNC payroll. The Daily Caller reports:

If it wasn’t enough for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s former personal assistant, her son and her sister to be leading the preparations for the party’s national convention in Tampa in 2012, fear not. There are more Cooks in the RNC’s kitchen.

Also on the payroll of the Committee on Arrangements for the Republican National Convention is Pamela Kesner, Belinda Cook’s niece.

While Steele fancies himself a chairman for the grassroots, they also want him to get to stepping. A new Public Policy Polling survey found Republican voters oppose his reelection by more than a 2:1 margin.

The speakers had little sympathy for the first African American president, who inherited a boatload of problems from another president named George.

It was too hot so I didn’t stick around to hear whether Fox News contributor Bill Kristol repeated his call for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to step down for his latest gaffe telling the truth about Afghanistan. Yes, we’re in it. But nine years later, we still can’t win it.